Presented by Judi Leff

Click here to register for this virtual Jewish Community Library event.

Cemetery historian Judi Leff will offer a virtual tour of past and present Jewish cemeteries in San Francisco and Colma. She will answer such grave questions as where was the oldest Jewish cemetery in San Francisco, and who was its first inhabitant? What famous San Francisco park served as the Jewish cemetery in the 19th century? Why did the necropolis have to move to Colma? From whom should you ask for help if you lose your ball at Lincoln Park golf course? Why does one of the Colma cemeteries hold the remains of its most visited historical celebrity? What cemetery architectural controversies arose over time? Leff will share tales of the obscure, the famous, and the infamous denizens of the current cemetery, many of whom shaped San Francisco.

Judi Leff is a San Francisco native who worked for seventeen years at Temple Emanu-El, where she was director of operations and director of arts and culture. She currently teaches a variety of courses to older adults on the Peninsula, and through Zoom. A board member of the San Francisco History Association, she is passionately interested in San Francisco Jewish history, and produced the 125^th anniversary commemoration of Colma’s Jewish cemeteries in 2014. She sits on the Temple Emanu-El Cemetery Committee for Home of Peace in Colma. Her hobbies include stand-up comedy, writing, Emperor Norton, and, of course, cemeteries.

Program made possible, in part, by Lawrence and Helene Edelman.